Report: Trump Voters Concerned With Jobs, Not Russia

Voters in the Midwestern states that backed Donald Trump in the November 2016 presidential election are more concerned with good-paying jobs than allegations about the president's alleged ties to Russia.

That's according to a May 16 CNN Money report based on conversations with Trump voters in Wisconsin, Michigan and Kentucky.

Kenneth Olsen spoke to CNN shortly after Trump fired FBI director James Comey on May 9 and noted that the issue had not been a major concern for him.

"I really haven't seen him doing anything" on jobs, Olsen added, according to CNN. "The longer they stall around and dance around and whatever, the more people are gonna get hurt."

During his campaign, Trump pledged to return good-paying, secure jobs to the U.S.

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"He was saying things that the average person who lost their job" wants to hear, according to 46-year-old factory worker Bret Mattice, who voted for the first time in 2016.

William Owens, a pastor in Kentucky, summed up the feeling among Trump supporters.

"I think he's best for our economy, especially here," Owens said. "We have the same problems here that the inner cities have."

A woman who works as a security guard in Michigan, earning little more than the minimum wage, also backed Trump.

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"Some of us are working too hard to fall back now," she said.

A Morning Consult poll released on May 15 appears to indicate that the enthusiasm among Trump's base for the president is decreasing.

The poling organization found shortly after Trump's inauguration that 56 percent of Trump voters strongly approved of his performance, which has now dropped to 49 percent following Comey's firing.

A Trump supporter speaking to the Chicago Tribune suggested that if the allegation about the president's reported attempt to block an FBI investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn turns out to be true, then consequences would have to follow.

"If it's true, he should be impeached," said Jeremy Spurrier, who campaigned for Trump in 2016. "But I don't think impeachment proceedings should begin on another anonymous, unsubstantiated article."

Politico noted in a May 17 article that it is too soon after Comey's firing and the allegation that Trump leaked intelligence to Russia to determine how the polls will be affected. Gallup's daily tracker still includes interviews carried out before these events took place.

"The base is still with him," Republican pollster John McLaughlin told Politico. "Even on a bad week, 80 percent of Republicans approve of the job he is doing."